New York’s annual winter showcase for the finest American antiques, art, and crafts from the Colonial period to the early 20th century kicks off on January 16. AD previews the essentials

Winter Antiques ShowThough its 75 exhibitors offer much more than American antiques and art, this show, now in its 58th year, has long been a centerpiece of New York’s Americana Week. The roster of dealers at the Park Avenue Armory includes esteemed Americana specialists such as Hirschl & Adler, David A. Schorsch, Olde Hope, Hyland Granby, and Jeffrey Tillou. Also on display will be a loan exhibition of furniture and objects from the upstate New York houses overseen by Historic Hudson Valley, which evolved from a preservation organization founded 60 years ago by John D. Rockefeller Jr.January 20–29; winterantiquesshow.com

Clockwise, from top left: A circa-1840 miniature watercolor portrait, attributed to Justus Dalee, from Frank & Barbara Pollack American Antiques & Art. A horse and sulky weather vane, circa 1870, attributed to Cushing & White, from Giampietro. A late-19th-century figure of Liberty, from Olde Hope Antiques. James Bard’s 1852 painting of the paddle-wheel steamship United States, from Hyland Granby Antiques.

Silver StarsBoth of the top auction houses are offering silver pieces with serious provenance. Christie’s leads with a Sheffield-plate wine cooler that George Washington gave as a gift to Alexander Hamilton in 1797. Consigned by Hamilton’s heirs, it is expected to fetch $400,000 to $600,000. Sotheby’s counters with a pair of 1701 standing cups, by silversmith Jeremiah Dummer, that come from the First Parish Church in Dorchester, Massachusetts, the oldest congregation in the Boston area. Estimated at $1–$2 million, the cups were made for the church using a special bequest from Governor William Stoughton, who is famous for presiding over the Salem witch trials.Silver, January 19; christies.comFurniture, Folk Art, Silver, Porcelain, Prints and Carpets, Session 1, January 20; sothebys.com

From top: A four-bottle silver wine cooler that George Washington gave to Alexander Hamilton in 1797. The Governor Stoughton silver standing cups, made by Jeremiah Dummer in 1701.

What Brown Can DoThis season, brown furniture certainly isn’t all drab. Christie’s is selling an exceptionally elegant Queen Anne mahogany marble-slab table made by John Goddard for Captain Anthony Low in 1755. It comes from the collection of the late furniture scholar Joseph K. Ott and is expected to bring $2 million to $3 million. Sotheby’s has put the same hefty estimate on a John Townsend shell-carved and figured mahogany high chest of drawers, commissioned by Rhode Island lieutenant colonel Oliver Arnold for his wedding in 1756. The largely untouched piece is signed and dated (a rarity in Townsend’s oeuvre), and Sotheby’s is touting it as “the most important discovery of American furniture to come to light in decades.”The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph K. Ott, January 20; christies.comFurniture, Folk Art, Silver, Porcelain, Prints and Carpets, Session 2, January 21; sothebys.com

A previously undocumented high chest of drawers made by John Townsend in 1756.

Fresh Looks at the MetThough the work was basically finished weeks ago, the Metropolitan Museum of Art is waiting for Americana Week to officially unveil its New American Wing Galleries for Paintings, Sculpture, and Decorative Arts. This final phase of the American Wing renovation encompasses 25 enlarged galleries, totaling some 30,000 square feet. The centerpiece of the reinstallation is Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze’s 1851 masterpiece Washington Crossing the Delaware, which now hangs in a stately gilded frame meticulously re-created by Eli Wilner & Co. from a recently discovered 19th-century photograph of the painting.Opening January 16; metmuseum.org

Washington Crossing the Delaware, 1851, by Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze.

Uncommon FolkSome exceptional folk-art items are hitting the auction block this season. Among the livelier offerings at Christie’s is a group of colorful mid-19th-century ceremonial fire hats (likely hailing from Pennsylvania), with estimates ranging from $8,000 to $15,000 each. At Sotheby’s, the Betty Ring collection of American schoolgirl embroideries, also called samplers, represents the most comprehensive group of its kind ever sold at auction. Expectations are high for the nearly 200 pieces—which often depict scenes from history and everyday life—with individual estimates ranging up to $120,000.Furniture and Folk Art, January 20; christies.comAmerican Schoolgirl Embroideries: The Landmark Collection of Betty Ring, January 22; sothebys.com

From left: A mid-19th-century Mechanic Fire Co. painted ceremonial-parade fire hat, probably from Pennsylvania. An embroidery created in 1807 by Mary Antrim of Burlington County, New Jersey; it is one of nearly 200 schoolgirl samplers from the Betty Ring collection.

Bonhams UpMid-range antiques have long been this auction house’s traditional bread and butter. During Americana Week look for prime examples of Tiffany & Co. and Revere silver, Audubon-inspired prints, and a rare Moravian glazed-pottery owl bottle from early-19th-century North Carolina that epitomizes the English-inflected style of the time. The eight-inch-tall clay figurine could fetch $60,000 to $80,000.American and European Furniture and Decorative Arts, January 19; bonhams.com

An early-19th-century Moravian glazed-pottery owl bottle from North Carolina; it is one of only four that are known.

Live from Lincoln CenterBurdened by crushing debt, the American Folk Art Museum sold its Tod Williams Billie Tsien–designed midtown building to the neighboring Museum of Modern Art for some $31 million, to avoid bankruptcy last year. But the institution itself is still alive and kicking, having retreated to its substantially smaller location across from Lincoln Center. During Americana Week, the museum opens the exhibition “Jubilation/Rumination: Life, Real and Imagined,” which focuses on works that straddle the line between fact and fiction, between dreams and reality.January 17–September 2; folkartmuseum.org

Clockwise from top: A mid-20th-century drawing by Henry Darger. James Bard’s Horse Jack of Woodbridge, NJ, 1871. Aurora, circa 1820, by an unidentified New England artist.

Keno Keeps PaceAlong with his twin brother, Leslie, Leigh Keno is undoubtedly this country’s most famous American furniture expert, thanks to Antiques Roadshow. A former specialist at Christie’s, Keno boldly launched Keno Auctions in 2009, and the firm is making its second Americana Week outing this year, with a broad-ranging sale in Wallace Hall at the Church of St. Ignacius Loyola. Highlights include a vibrant Federal mahogany settee, with carving attributed to Samuel McIntire, estimated at $40,000 to $80,000. That session will be followed by an auction of Peter Brams’s collection of Woodlands Indian art—primarily carved-wood ladles and bowls—which is expected to fetch a total upwards of $750,000.Americana, Paintings, Furniture and Decorative Arts, and the Peter Brams Collection of Woodlands Indian Art, January 17; kenoauctions.com

From left: A Federal mahogany settee, with carving attributed to Samuel McIntire. An Algonquian human-effigy feast ladle, from the first half of the 18th century.

The Metro ShowOne casualty of the American Folk Art Museum’s troubles was its American Antiques Show, a staple of Americana Week for the past ten years. But Chicago’s Art Fair Co. (organizer of the SOFA and Expo Chicago fairs) quickly stepped in and filled the void with the new Metro Show, a broader-ranging event at the Metropolitan Pavilion. Despite a greater emphasis on international and 20th-century offerings, the show still features a sizable contingent of dealers specializing in American furniture and folk art, including Stephen Score, Allan Katz, American Primitive, and Jeff Bridgman.January 19–22; metroshownyc.com